History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties : containing a concise history of the state, with portraits and biographies of prominent citizens of the above named counties, and personal histories of many of the early settlers and leading families
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259

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left a lasting imprint upon the history of hiscounty and State had not his sloth, negligenceor 'crankiness' made of him one thefilthiest mortals that ever attempted to adornan honorable prof ession. A year or so latertwo other lawyers who afterward made theirmark in their profession began to make thispoint in their circuit, these being James andAsa M. Willey, the latter District Attorneyof this district at a later day and on thebench of the Supreme Courtof the State. Iheld the office of District Clerk for six years.During that time there was not a great dealof legal business transacted at Cameron, norindeed much general business.6" For several years after the town was laidout and established as the county seat, PortSullivan and Nashville were its successfulrivals in trade, some people of the countygoing also to Wheelock and Caldwell. Thebuying of an article of wearing apparel ora piece of furniture or a lot of groceries inmore than dollar quantities was such a rareevent with the people then that they couldafford to go thirty or forty miles to makeselections and gett good bargains. The chiefemployment of the people was stock-raising,and farming on small scale. For the firstfew years after I settled here immigrationinto the county was so heavy that we soldall we raised in the way of grain to settlers.A great deal of corn was grown and somewheat and oats. Cotton did not become oneof the staple products until about the beginningof the war. The people as a wholewere industrious and sIlf-sustaining, andthey were, with a few exceptions, moral andlaw-abiding."Schools, of course, were not plentiful,nor were those that we had what they oughtto have been, but we had not then come todepend so much upon books as now. The

newspaper was not regarded in those days asa household necessity, nor had the electric telegraphbrought the utmost parts of tlhe earthto our doors. We were somewhat of a peopleunto ourselves, not used to the high livingand high thinking of these times. Ourspiritual needs were administered to by theitinerant ministry, supplemented by neighlborhoodand family prayer-meetings. We hadoccasional seasons of refreshing when therewould be a general upheaval of religioussentiment and a taking of bearings upon theparts of the frivolous and unregenerate.Church buildings were scarce but the settlers'houses were always open for gatherings of areligious nature, and when an extraordinarygathering was promised resort was not unfrequentlyhad to what the poet has called' God's first temples. the spreading trees.' Iattended church a number of times in tlhecourthouse at Cameron, and perhaps shouldmention in this connection those able andearnest divines of the Methodist Church,the pioneer organization of this county, theRev. W. C. Lewis, Pleasant M. Yell andJosiah W. Whipple, all of whom were earlyworkers in thle cause of Christianitiy inMilam county. I cannot say exactly whenthey began their labors here, but it was earlyin the '40s. The Methodists effected anorganization in this county in 1847, and thefirst quarterly meeting was held at Cameron,that year, Rev. J. W. Whipple, the presidingelder, being in charge of it.I have spoken of the early settlement ofthe county and its educational and religiousinterests by choice. I have been in politicssome, but I am no politician, and I leave itto others to give, in their recollections, thepolitical history of the c,)unty and to stillothers to speak of its material growth andresources. '

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Lewis Publishing Company, publisher.History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties : containing a concise history of the state, with portraits and biographies of prominent citizens of the above named counties, and personal histories of many of the early settlers and leading families,
book,
1893;
Chicago.
(texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth29785/m1/268/?rotate=270:
accessed August 18, 2017),
University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, texashistory.unt.edu;
.